Military Aviation News Archive
05/06/2013
South Korea and the United States will hold an annual joint naval exercise in waters around the Korean peninsula from the end of this week. Military sources say Aegis destroyers from both countries, P-3C patrol aircraft as well as submarines will take part in the drill.
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05/06/2013
With a direct eye on Taiwan, the Chinese military may be moving into the large-scale deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. The Associated Press reported over the last few days that Chinese aerospace firms had developed dozens of drones, that its technology was maturing rapidly and that they were “on the cusp” of widespread use for surveillance and combat strikes.
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05/06/2013
Indian Navy is celebrating the diamond jubilee of its aviation wing May 11 with the commissioning of its first shipboard Mig-29K combat jet squadron in Goa. The aircraft will be deployed on the carrier INS Vikramaditya, currrently undergoing sea trials in Russia and which is expected to be inducted later this year.
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05/06/2013
An army marches on its stomach, according to an old military adage. Today's military is tethered to a gas pump. The amount of fuel used per individual soldier has skyrocketed in recent years because of an increased use of aircraft and armored vehicles. In Afghanistan, that dependency has meant long and costly supply lines that are vulnerable to attack and limit the reach of American forces.
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05/06/2013
Four flights in one year. That's the flight track record of the naval variant of Light Combat Aircraft -LCA Navy (NP-1) since it made its maiden flight on April 27 last year in Bangalore. Four flights in one year. That’s the flight track record of the naval variant of Light Combat Aircraft -LCA Navy (NP-1) since it made its maiden flight on April 27 last year in Bangalore.
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05/06/2013
MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti) - Syria condemned on Sunday Israel over airstrikes against targets around Damascus, saying the attacks aim "to give direct military support to terrorist groups" fighting the government, the Associated Press reported. The Syrian Foreign Ministry also said Sunday in a letter sent to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council that the "Israeli aggression" had killed and wounded several people and "caused widespread destruction."
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05/06/2013
Israel decided to close airspace to civilian aircraft over its northern part of the country in the wake of reports on alleged Israeli airstrikes on Syria, the Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.
The daily cited Israel’s leading airline Arkia as saying in a statement that after instructions from the Israeli Defense Ministry the airline was “forced to announce the cancellation of interior flights from Haifa to Eilat.”
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05/05/2013
Israeli strikes on Syrian army targets show co-ordination with "terrorists" including al-Qaeda linked militants, the Syrian foreign ministry has said. The strikes had led to a number of casualties and widespread damage, it reported in a letter sent to the UN. State media said a research centre and other sites had been hit overnight. Israeli sources said weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon were the target.
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05/05/2013
The Marine Corps has a long and storied history with the bird they affectionately call the "Phrog." More than four decades have passed since the CH-46A Sea Knight entered the Corps' arsenal, and now, 49 years later, the birds will be resting their wings as their last flights come to an end as the Corps transitions to the MV-22 Osprey.
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05/05/2013
AUSTRALIA'S armed forces will face firmly north and increase their collaboration with the US military,potentially allowing B-52 long-range bombers and drone aircraft to fly from Australian bases,under plans announced by the government yesterday.The formal response to last year's Australian Defence Force Posture Review report also committed to upgrading airfields on the remote Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean to support the anticipated arrival of a squadron of RAAF armed surveillance aircraft.
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05/05/2013
Last week Con Coughlin became the first British journalist to see a British pilot conduct a perfect test landing of Britain's new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Here he describes an aircraft that is set to become one of Britain’s leading strike fighters for the next generation.
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05/05/2013
Embraer Defense & Security is stepping up its marketing drive in the region and is demonstrating that with its participation at this week's International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF'13), which takes place May 7-10 at the Tüyap Fair & Exhibition Center, in Istanbul, Turkey.??
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05/05/2013
The Kyrgyz government says it has found the bodies of two US pilots after a military refuelling plane crashed in the Central Asian state on Friday. Search teams found the remains on Saturday morning, the emergencies ministry told news agencies. The search for the third member of the plane's crew was continuing.
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05/04/2013
Amid growing concerns the Middle East faces major security threats, Iraq has ordered a second batch of Lockheed Martin F-16IQ fighters worth $830 million. The contract underlines Iraq's drive to give its postwar air force a combat capability in the next few years following the U.S. military withdrawal completed in December 2011.
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05/04/2013
The U.S. Navy believes it has found a laser technology that is capable of being useful in combat. This is not a sudden development but has been going on for most of the last decade. Three years ago the navy successfully tested this new laser weapon (six solid state lasers acting in unison), using it to destroy a small UAV.
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05/04/2013
Marines at a far-flung base in southwest Afghanistan sent off an urgent request for mortar rounds, needing an air delivery made to a landing zone under enemy fire for days. The choice came down to two Connecticut-made helicopters. One option to deliver the pallet of 60mm rounds was a manned Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter. The other was an unmanned Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-MAX helicopter. The Sikorsky helicopter made in Stratford requires a crew of five.
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05/04/2013
Back in February the African country of Niger received its first jet combat aircraft in the form of two Su-25s. These were received from Ukraine, which has a lot of Cold War surplus weapons, and refurbished these two ground attack aircraft. It is believed that Ukraine also supplied pilots and ground crews, at least until some Niger personnel could be trained to do the work.
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05/04/2013
An aerial tanker jet reportedly flown by a Fairchild Air Force Base crew crashed today in the rugged mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian nation where the U.S. operates an air base key to the war in Afghanistan. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Florida, told Reuters News Service that the congressman was advised the KC-135 Stratotanker was based out of McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas but that it was being operated by a Fairchild crew.
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05/04/2013
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Israeli companies were behind 41 percent of all UAVs exported in 2001-11. Those Israeli exports went to 24 countries, including the United States. i-hls reports. That volume’s expected to expand as production costs are relatively low. Israeli industry officials boast that it’s significantly cheaper to buy an advanced UAV than it is to train an air force pilot.
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05/04/2013
Australian government officials restated their commitment to purchase 100 F-35 fifth-generation multirole fighters from Lockheed Martin to support the country’s Air Combat Capability Transition, with an Initial Operational Capability date of 2020 for the F-35 fleet.
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05/04/2013
U.S. officials say Israel has launched an airstrike into Syria, apparently targeting a suspected weapons site. The officials say the strike occurred overnight Thursday into Friday. They say it does not appear that a chemical weapons site was targeted. One official says the strike appeared to hit a warehouse.
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05/04/2013
A Boeing X-51A WaveRider unmanned hypersonic vehicle achieved the longest air-breathing, scramjet-powered hypersonic flight in history May 1, flying for three and a half minutes on scramjet power at a top speed of Mach 5.1. The vehicle flew for a total time of more than six minutes.
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05/04/2013
A US military Boeing KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in a mountainous area in Kyrgyzstan for unspecified reasons on Friday, the United States Air Force said. "A US Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft crashed today in northern Kyrgyzstan," the US Air Force's 376th Air Expeditionary Wing based in the country said. The Boeing KC-135, also known as the Stratotanker, crashed into a mountain gorge about 60 kilometers (36 miles) west of the capital Bishkek.
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05/03/2013
In acknowledging the likely use of chemical weapons in Syria, US President Barack Obama is nonetheless seeking to pursue a cautious path. On the one hand he does not want to be stampeded into military action by more hawkish voices on Capitol Hill without conclusive and demonstrable evidence. But equally he wants to send a strong message to the Syrian government in Damascus.
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05/03/2013
The growing power of Islamist fighters in southern Syria is causing alarm in Jordan, which backs rebels battling President Bashar Assad but fears those linked to Al-Qaeda. Similar concerns among Syria’s other neighbors, including Turkey and Israel, are complicating an already disjointed world response to the bloody turmoil at the heart of the Middle East.
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